THIS IS WHERE IT ALL BEGINS
"I can draw a parallel between a jazz musician soloing and how I photograph. You're following a feeling and reacting to the moment. Through discipline and practice, you are able to completely get out of your own way."
PROJECTS
Blade & Bale, the latest project from Paul Charles Bartlett, is a raw photographic study of labour and repetition, rooted in the confined, working environment of a woolshed.
Moving between moments of relentless motion and quiet pause, the work observes shearers and sheep in near-unison, man and beast folding into a shared tempo.
“I photograph this place
because it refuses performance.
Because it does not care who is watching.
Because purpose lives here
without needing to explain itself.
These images aren’t about nostalgia.
They’re about presence.
About staying still long enough
for the shed to let you in.”
This beautifully presented book contains over 70 photographs and includes several written pieces across 80 pages. Printed on 150gsm high quality silk coated paper between a full colour matte laminated 350gsm cover. The book measures 29.7cm x 21cm.
This project marks the second release through Better Rebel and the first in an ongoing series of shorter-form works.
All copies will be handsigned
Uplooker is a raw and emotional collection of 140 black & white and colour photographs from Adelaide based photographer Paul Charles Bartlett. Including some personal thoughts and quotes from various interactions, this is a photographic documentation focusing on the humanity & struggle of life on the streets of Adelaide during the covid pandemic.
This gritty but beautifully presented hard cover book is 152 pages printed on 170gsm high quality uncoated paper between a full colour matte laminated hard cover. The book measures 29.6cm x 20.8cm.
This is also the first book release under Paul’s own name & self published under his own imprint ‘BETTER REBEL’.
"In all my time photographing on the streets of cities around the world, I never took photos of the people who called those streets home. For most of us, they were a public place, the gap between A and B, but for someone without the luxury of privacy, these streets were their private space, a space I respected.”
It was a chance meeting while my camera and I chased possibility down a street, through an alley, behind a walkway, when I heard a voice that changed everything for me.
'Do you want to take my photo?'."
A photographic journey spanning over four years, from 2019-2023, it captures a very unique time in human history from an unguarded and often unseen perspective.
"They are the uplookers, looking up for help and connection with hope, with varied
optimism. We are the uplookers, looking up because looking down is too confronting.
Out of sight, out of mind.
"People in the modern world don't see god because they don't look low enough." - Carl Jung
This is Uplooker."
All hardcover copies will be HAND SIGNED.
SOLD OUT
The second book from photographer Paul Charles Bartlett is a visual dedication to all of the remarkable sights, smells, sounds and energy of the Adelaide Central Market.
"The Market is such a spectacularly unique place, a melting pot of not only produce and people but cultures and traditions."
This 60 page book is printed on 150gsm uncoated paper to represent the organic and tactile nature of the markets. Perfect bound between a 300gsm satin matte laminated cover, the book measures 20.8cm x 29.6cm.
“Progress is inevitable, so capturing these moments & memories of such an iconic place and the people who bring it to life will only become more valuable as time passes.”
All copies will be handsigned
Before weddings. Before clients. Before business. This is the work that taught me how to see.
Long-form documentary projects, published books, exhibitions and prints, created slowly, intentionally, and without compromise.
These bodies of work are not separate from my wedding photography.
They are the reason it looks the way it does.
I am drawn to people. To emotion. To the spaces where life is unguarded.
Whether I’m documenting someone on the street, spending years inside a community, or sitting with a stranger and listening to their story, my approach is the same: observe, connect, and photograph without agenda.
No scripts. No performance. No interference.
Just presence.
I’ve spent years working on projects that don’t come with timelines, shot lists or guarantees. Work that requires patience. Trust. Emotional intelligence. And the ability to stay when things are uncomfortable.
Books. Exhibitions. Long-term stories. Real lives.
This isn’t branding. This is practice.
When I talk about “art-first” in my wedding work, this is what I mean.
